The Fight in the Dog
by Qweb
Summary: Kono thinks Danny needs to get out more, so she invites him to meet some friends of hers at a nice little bar called the Sundog. But someone doesn't think the haole belongs. Can anyone say "bar fight"? Rated T for the fight and some language.
1. The Fight in the Dog

8

_Hawaii Five-0 fanfiction. No, I don't own these guys but I'd be happy to meet them._

**The Fight in the Dog**

"Danny, could you stop dissing my hometown. Please," Officer Kono Kalakaua begged.

She rubbed the back of her neck. She had such a headache, and Detective Danny Williams was going on and on about how he wished he was back in New Jersey.

Of course, it was really Steve McGarrett's fault. He loved to push Danny's buttons. He'd gotten the detective all wound up, then had been called to a meeting. Chin Ho Kelly was in his office talking to a source on the Big Island, which left Kono alone in the war room with the aggravated New Jersey native, who was now studying her as if she was a piece of evidence. The rookie officer waited to be bawled out by her superior.

"You look a little tense," Danny said mildly. "Here. Neck rubs are a Williams specialty." He walked behind her and touched her shoulders lightly, then dug his thumbs into the knots along her neck.

Kono had been given neck rubs that were caresses, but this was a friendly but impersonal massage that forced the tension out of her neck and shoulders. The relief spread up her neck. The throbbing in her head subsided.

She saw her cousin, still on the phone, regarding them from his office. He raised his eyebrows at her. She stuck her tongue out at him.

Now she felt guilty about getting mad.

"I'm sorry, Danny," she started to apologize.

"If I'm tap dancing on your last nerve, just tell me you'd rather have a soft shoe," he said in the same kindly tone he used for injured victims. Now she really felt guilty.

"It's not that I don't understand," Kono said. "If someone dragged me to New Jersey against my will, all that way from my friends and family, I'd be unhappy, too."

Though the hands on her neck, she felt him flinch away from the word "unhappy."

"That big, cold city full of millions of uncaring strangers. It gives me the shivers," she confessed.

"But that's not what the city is like," Danny protested. "It's made up of dozens of little neighborhoods where everyone knows everyone else."

"Danny! That's what Honolulu is like, too!" Kono said in exasperation. "Maybe, every big city is like that." She turned awkwardly to try to see his face. "You're a detective. Are you telling me you haven't done any exploring? You haven't found a restaurant you like or a little malsada shop?"

Danny shrugged. (She felt that, too.) "Some," he confessed. "But it's not so easy to start from scratch, especially with our peculiar hours."

Kono had a flash of inspiration. "Would you let me help?" she offered. "I'm going out with some friends tonight. There's a guy I know you might get along with. He used to live in Jersey, too."

"Well…"

"Come on, what have you got to lose?" Kono coaxed. "Seven o'clock?"

Danny released his grip on the rookie's neck. "Is that better?"

She rotated her neck and sighed with pleasure. "Much, even my headache's gone."

Chin finished his conversation and left his office. "Here, you, are you disrespecting my cousin?" he said with a stern voice and a twinkle in his eye.

"If you think I would abuse a rookie officer when I'm one of her training officers, then you're disrespecting me," Danny retorted. "And if you think I could make Kono do anything she didn't want to do, then you're disrespecting her. She'd clean my clock."

"She didn't look unwilling to me," Chin continued his teasing with a mock frown at Kono.

Danny had admired the bikini-clad surfer when they first met, but now she was a teammate.

"I think you're seeing things," Danny told Chin, then, making his decision, he added just to make his friend's eyes widen, "Even if she did ask me out tonight. Seven?" he asked Kono.

"Seven," she agreed. "And Danny …" He paused at the door. "… No tie. Casual."

He waved agreement and left.

"Don't give me that look," she warned her cousin.

"What look? I thought you were going out with the girls to talk about Naneki's baby shower. Think Danny'll be interested in that?"

"Maybe if we talk about the food …" she joked. Danny was something of a foodie. "No, seriously, we're going to the Sundog and Mickey's usually there on Friday, because his girlfriend has class that night."

"Mickey. That's not a bad idea, cuz," he said thoughtfully.

"When do I have bad ideas?" Kono scoffed.

Danny opened his door to Kono's knock at just a minute past 7 p.m. He posed, spinning like a model.

"Casual enough?"

"Perfect!" the girl answered with a grin.

Danny wore jeans and an open pinstriped New York Yankees jersey over a white T-shirt. It was more East Coast than Hawaiian, but it couldn't have been better if Kono had prompted him.

Danny clipped his holster to his belt, slipped his keys in his back pocket and put his wallet and badge in a pocket sewn on the inside of the jersey.

"I didn't know those came with pockets," Kono commented.

"This was a gift from my mother," Danny answered. "She read somewhere it's bad for your circulation to stuff too much in your pants pockets, so she put a pocket inside the jersey."

"Too bad we didn't have her at Christmas," Kono said.

Danny smiled, remembering trying to alter a Santa costume with a stapler.

Two young women, just Kono's age, occupied the back seat of her red Chevy Cruze. Kono introduced them. Monica was a statuesque blonde with styled hair, perfect makeup and a disapproving expression on her face. Danny guessed she was unhappy at having a strange man foisted on their girls' night out. Naneki was usually a petite brunette, but eight months of pregnancy had put a basketball at her waistline and made her heart-shaped face puffy. She welcomed Danny politely.

"We're planning a baby shower. Any ideas?" Monica drawled as Danny got in the front seat.

The detective raised his eyebrows at Kono, radiating "Is this what you got me into?" But he answered courteously.

"My only experience with baby showers was faithfully admiring every adorable layette my wife — now my ex-wife — brought home from her shower." He told a funny story about how he'd worked two days straight and all he wanted to do was sleep, but there were baby clothes and accessories all over the bed. "And Rachel had to exclaim over each one and tell me who gave it to her and put it away neatly, so it was an hour before I could crawl into that bed. And somehow my cop brain must have been on autopilot, because to this day I can still remember that the green polkadot jumpsuit came from Candy and the bib with the smiling bee on it came from Tammy and I never even met Candy or Tammy!"

"Oh good, he's here," Kono said as they entered the Sundog Bar and Grill.

Danny approved of the restaurant. It was a small place with a bar at one end, booths around the edges, tables in between and a miniscule dance floor off to the left beside a stage just big enough for a four-piece band. The stage and the dance floor were empty at the moment. People were clustered around the bar where TVs showed a variety of sports programs. Danny wondered whether they ever prerecorded games for viewing later. Even West Coast games were half over by 7 p.m. Honolulu time.

Kono left her girlfriends to settle themselves in a booth and took Danny to the bar where a young man was ordering a beer.

"Mickey, I want you to meet a friend of mine," she said.

The tall, slender Hawaiian turned and took in Danny's Yankee's jersey as the detective eyed the Yankee logo on Mickey's baseball cap.

"Brother!" the Hawaiian exclaimed.

Danny clasped his hand warmly. "At last, a civilized man in Hawaii."

"Mickey, this is Danny Williams. Danny, Mickey Kaina. Danny's from New Jersey, so I thought you'd have a lot in common. Mickey used to live in New Jersey, too."

"How long have you been in Hawaii, Danny?" Mickey asked.

"Coming up on a year," Danny answered.

Mickey gave Kono a reproachful look. She held up her hands in protest. "I haven't known him that long."

"We've only been working together for about six months," Danny excused his friend, while also obliquely warning Mickey he was a cop.

Mickey brushed that aside as obvious and got back to the important interrogation.

"Have you been to the new Yankee Stadium? How does it compare?" he asked eagerly.

Amused, Kono excused herself and returned to the baby shower discussion.

Having thoroughly dissected the new stadium, Danny asked the Hawaiian why he'd lived in New Jersey.

"My folks got divorced and my mom was transferred to New Jersey. How'd you get to Honolulu?"

"I got divorced," Danny said wryly. "My ex got remarried and moved to Hawaii with my daughter."

"And you followed them to be close to your girl? I honor you," the child of divorce said. "Not many fathers could or would uproot themselves from everything they know."

Danny was embarrassed and turned the conversation back to Mickey. "How do you know Kono?"

"We went to kindergarten together, then we reconnected in high school after I moved back to live with my father. I mean, I liked New Jersey, but Hawaii was home."

"People envy me living in Hawaii, but I miss my friends and family," Danny confessed. "And the food."

Mickey closed his eyes in blissful memory. "The food," he sighed. "And the Yankees. The two things I miss most. Look, I've got some guys coming over to watch the game Saturday. Wanna come?"

"I'd like that, if I don't have to work," Danny qualified. "So, what do you think of the new pitcher?"

Kono was glad to see Danny and Mickey getting along. She turned back to her girlfriends and someone slid into the booth beside her.

"Hello, ladies," a cheerful voice said.

"Lily!" The girls were always glad to see Lily, their childhood idol. She had been their babysitter, the older girl in the neighborhood who would make time to play with the younger kids.

The petite Hawaiian had a sleek cap of black hair, warm brown skin and even warmer brown eyes.

"Naneki, you are glowing. I've never seen anyone look so beautiful when she was eight months pregnant."

"You're such a liar, Lily," Naneki said, smiling. "But you may continue."

They chatted for a bit about babies, showers and the good old days.

"So, Kono, who's that guy you keep eying, the one at the bar with Mickey? New boyfriend?" Lily asked.

Monica snorted. "That's Danny Williams. He works with Kono."

"Not a boyfriend?" Lily was interested.

"Just a friend," Kono agreed.

"He's divorced, from New Jersey. Kono was worried about him being lonely."

"Monica," Naneki chided. "You make him sound pathetic. He was very nice in the car when all we were talking about was babies."

"That's true," Monica admitted. "He was nice enough, but he's too short for my taste," she said firmly. She suspected Kono intended to set her up with Danny.

"He doesn't look short to me. Anyway, tall guys give me a crick in the neck." Lily stood up, all 4-foot-10 of her, smoothed down her skintight dress and sauntered toward the bar.

"Danny won't know what hit him," Monica said.

"Do you think he'll care?" Naneki said with a giggle.

Lily liked the energy of Danny's movements as he debated with Mickey. She got tired of the laid back Hawaiian attitude. Lily's mother called her a changeling, a fiery Latin American senorita somehow transported to Hawaii. Lily thought she and Danny would strike sparks, which might light fireworks or start a brushfire, but certainly wouldn't be boring.

"I think the Red Sox will take it all this year," she said provocatively into the middle of the Yankee fans' discussion.

Danny spun around to argue, but blinked at the vision before him.

"Don't let Lily fool you, Danny," Mickey said. "She just says things to get my goat. She's not really a Red Sox fan. She's a Dodger fan."

The vision shrugged prettily. "They're my 'hometown' team."

Two thousand miles away, but still probably the closest major league team to Honolulu. Danny grinned at her.

"Lily Kiliona, this is Danny Williams."

"A friend of Kono's. I know," Lily said. She held out a hand and Danny gripped it gently. Mickey slid to the next stool to make room for Lily between him and Danny, who gave him a questioning look.

"She didn't come over for me, brah. I'm engaged to a friend of hers."

Lily wondered if she was coming on too strong. She deliberately relaxed her posture and toned down the wattage of her smile. A shutter seemed to fall over Danny's eyes. He released her hand as if it had burned him.

Oh help! Lily thought. She and Danny simultaneously turned to seek advice from Kono. She was already on her feet. She'd noticed Danny's attitude change from interested man to suspicious cop.

I must be developing cop instincts, Kono thought proudly.

She rested her hands on Lily's shoulders. "Danny, this is my friend Lily. I've known her all my life. She used to be my babysitter. She does like to play people, especially men, but she's not malicious.

"Lily, this is Detective Danny Williams. He's really good at reading people and telling whether they're lying to him," she warned. "Play nice."

"I was toning it down," Lily protested.

Danny apologized for being suspicious. "I had a friend in Jersey who let himself get picked up by a woman with ulterior motives. She and her handler tried blackmail and, well, it got pretty messy. He got reprimanded and was lucky to keep his job. Made me leery about picking up strange women in bars."

"You must have been pretty lonely in Hawaii with no one to make introductions," Lily said perceptively. "But we're good now?" Danny nodded. Lily thanked Kono and shooed her back to the others.

"So, what do you do?" Danny asked. She had to be someone who performed. "Actress, lawyer?"

"She's a school psychologist," Mickey offered.

"A child psychologist," Lily agreed. "I do manipulate people, Danny. But I only use my powers for good," she said piously.

"Fair enough. So, do you think the Dodgers can win the West this year? Even Torre couldn't take them farther, though they do still have a Yankee manager," Danny teased.

Lily settled down to talk baseball with the boys — until a jazz band began to play.

"So, are you going to ask me to dance, or am I being too forward?" she said directly.

"I like forward," Danny said. "But …" It seemed impolite to forsake his new friend, Mickey.

"Don't mind me," Mickey said promptly. "I can find someone else to harangue about the Yankees. Don't forget. My place. Game time. Saturday. Kono has my address."

The guys shook hands; then Lily towed Danny to the tiny dance floor.

The bartender — who was the bar owner — brought Mickey another beer. "Your new friend abandoned you."

"Only for the very best reason," Mickey said, admiring Lily's neat backside.

"You mean there's something better than the Yankees?" Paul Beagle asked in mock horror.

"Paul, there are spectator sports and participant sports," Mickey said with the air of imparting great wisdom. "It's always better to participate."

The men watched Lily press close to Danny.

"Amen," Paul sighed enviously.

"Tell me about yourself, Danny."

"Yes, doctor," he answered solemnly.

She thumped him lightly with her tiny fist.

Danny chuckled and gave her a brief bio — New Jersey, divorce, new job in Hawaii.

"Oh! You're Grace Williams' father!"

Danny blinked.

"I work at her school," Lily explained. "That essay about 'Why My Father is My Hero' brought tears to my eyes."

Grace's prize-winning essay said Danny was her hero not because he was a police officer, but because he had moved all the way to Hawaii to be near her.

Danny cleared his throat. He was proud of his daughter's essay, but, in this company, the topic seemed like bragging. "So, do we have a conflict of interest here?" he asked.

Lily considered. "I don't think so," she decided. "Grace isn't one of my special students. I've met her. I meet all the new students to help them settle in, especially if they come from out-of-state. But she didn't seem to need any extra help. She's quite well adjusted, considering."

Danny bristled. "Considering what?"

Lily laughed like a tinkling bell and tweaked his nose. "Considering her parents got divorced and she moved away to a different state."

Danny relaxed. He had to admit that would be hard on a lot of kids, but he — and Rachel — had done their best to reduce the impact on Grace. Heck, his daughter was better adjusted than he was, Danny had to admit.

"Lily's a nice name," Danny said, offering a compliment as an apology.

"I like it because it's short," Lily said. Danny raised his eyebrows in query. "It's short for Lilinoe. She's a goddess of misty rain."

"Lilinoe Kiliona, very musical."

"Very wet," Lily corrected. "Kili means 'rain,' too. We have a lot of words for rain. I'd rather be a flower. Don't get me wrong, Danny. I love my state and my culture, but I refuse to be shackled to it."

"I don't get you."

"I'm a full-blooded Hawaiian and there are some who call me a traitor because I haven't settled down with a full-blooded mate." Her eyes flashed. "I won't be treated like a broodmare." She sounded like she was revisiting an old argument. "My brothers have ensured the continuation of the species, two sweet wives and six great kids between them. Maybe I'll find a nice Hawaiian man to marry, but I won't be dictated to. I'll date who I like, and …" Her fierce expression transformed into an impish grin. "… I've always had a thing for blond hair and muscular shoulders." She caressed Danny's back.

"So a haole like me shouldn't even be touching you," Danny said.

"Some would say that. I say, 'kiss me.'"

"Yes, ma'am." Danny bent to kiss her — a novel feeling for the vertically challenged detective to kiss a girl shorter than he was.

Lily closed her eyes, tasting the beer on Danny's lips. And then Danny head-butted her.

The woman dropped to her tail, legs splayed awkwardly. She looked up at her date squirming high above her, his neck in the pawlike grip of a huge Hawaiian.

"Stick to your own, haole," the man ordered; then he threw Danny into the wall.

Spinning, unable to stop himself because there's just no traction in mid-air, Danny slammed into the wall full side on. Left shoulder, left hip and knee all blazed with pain, then went mercifully numb. His left temple smacked the wall with a thud. Dazed, Danny dropped to hands and knees.

Three voices called his name in concern, but he only had eyes for Lily. As she wavered to her feet, the big Hawaiian backhanded her and knocked her down again.

Danny saw red and charged.

"You whore, you should stick to your own kind, too," the man snarled, just before Danny hit him at his knees, in a move that would draw a clipping call in any football game.

The Hawaiian crashed forward, bouncing off the padded seat of one of the hastily evacuated booths.

Danny sprawled beside Lily. She reached out to aid him, but he could see two men helping the first attacker to his feet. He realized this was going to get messier before it was over.

"Get out! Run!" he told Lily. "Go!" he urged, as the two henchmen yanked him to his feet, ripping his jersey.

His wallet and badge dropped at Lily's feet. She scooped them up before they could get lost amid the feet of the milling crowd trying to escape the violence.

People screamed and shoved, trying to get away from the three Hawaiians, who began to shove Danny back and forth among them. Like the Harlem Globetrotters with a damned basketball, Danny thought. He put his arms up to protect his head and wondered if the basketball ever got dizzy.

Kono and Mickey tried to fight their way upstream to help Danny, but a scream from Naneki made them stop and made even Danny's attackers falter.

Getting out of her booth had put the pregnant woman in the path of the stampede. One panicked patron had knocked her down into the path of another. Unable to stop, the second man had kicked her square in the belly. He would have turned back to help, but the pressure of the crowd forced him out the door. Monica crouched beside her friend, shielding the fallen woman with her body.

Kono looked from them back to Danny. She needed to back up her partner, but her partner shook his head. Danny saw that the panicked crowd was a bigger danger than the bellicose Hawaiians.

He elbowed one attacker in the jaw and stamped on the instep of another, fighting himself free for a moment. "Get the girls to safety. Protect the civilians," he shouted. And to protect the rookie, he added firmly, "That's an order, Kono!"

Danny's first attacker started at hearing Kono's name. His eyes met hers and hers flashed with such a volcanic fury she seemed to be an incarnation of Pele.

Kono didn't like leaving Danny to the haole bashers, but — still glaring at the big Hawaiian — she reversed course, dragging Mickey with her. They collected the limping Lily on the way.

Mickey picked up the sobbing Naneki and carried her outside while Kono donned her official persona, waving her badge, barking instructions and molding the chaos into order before anyone else got hurt.

Danny planted a fist in his assailant's belly and twisted free, but before he could take another step, the other two grabbed him and held him still. Angered by the way he'd flinched from Kono's gaze, the first attacker roared defiance and slammed a fist the size of a sledgehammer into Danny's already bruised forehead.

Maybe it was the blow to the head or the way the room was spinning, but Danny felt oddly calm as the three Hawaiians shoved him around. They could have killed him easily, if two had grabbed him and let the third pound away; but they seemed more intent on bullying the haole than causing serious damage. Danny had been bullied before and was not impressed. He rode their unscientific blows as best he could, sneaked in an occasional jab to keep their attention and waited for the sound of sirens. He'd seen half a dozen of the calmer patrons dialing 9-1-1 on their cell phones.

In fact, it was only a minute after the room cleared before sirens approached. Two of the Hawaiians caught Danny by the back of his battered jersey and threw him backwards into the bar; then they escaped out the back door.

Danny used a broken barstool to pull himself into a seated position, his back against the bar. He was in sole possession of the restaurant — broken furniture, shattered glasses, spilled food and all. It was quiet except for the drip of liquid and the muted voices of sports announcers from the television sets.

The detective enjoyed a long moment of solitude, while the cops sorted through a dozen conflicting stories told at the top of two dozen lungs. (Danny could picture it. He'd been there before.)

Two patrol officers entered cautiously through the front door, weapons drawn.

"Gun!" one warned, seeing the holstered automatic still firmly clipped to Danny's belt.

"Easy, I'm a police officer. Williams. Five-0," Danny said, while keeping his hands in plain view, flat on the floor in front of him. (The non-threatening pose had the added benefit of helping the dizzy detective stay upright.)

"Let's see some ID — carefully," the officer ordered.

Danny reached for his pocket and found it torn open, his ID missing. He scanned the floor, but there was too much debris.

Danny sighed in resignation.

"Strike three!" announced a voice from one of the TVs.

"You can say that again," Danny muttered.


	2. The Dog in the Fight

"_**It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog." — Mark Twain**_

**Chapter 2: The Dog in the Fight**

When the disheveled Danny Williams was brought out in handcuffs, both Mickey Kaina and the bartender protested.

"He didn't start the fight!" Paul Beagle said, pressing a tissue against a cut on his cheek. "He was dancing with a girl and this big Hawaiian dude threw him across the room."

"I'm sorry, sir, but he has a gun and no ID. We have to take him in."

"But he's a cop!" Mickey protested.

"How long have you known him?" the officer asked. He was perfectly willing to let Danny go if he was properly identified.

"Well, we just met tonight," Mickey admitted. "But we were introduced …"

Danny shook his head sharply, silencing Mickey. There was no sense besmirching Kono's rookie record.

"Leave our friend out of it, Mickey. But speaking of …"

"She and the girls took Naneki to the hospital. Nan was bleeding." He didn't mean bleeding from a cut.

The men looked bleak. If the poor girl lost that child she'd been so happy about …

The officer nudged Danny toward the patrol car.

"Can I do anything to help, Danny?"

"I lost my ID during the fight. See if you can find it?" the detective pleaded.

"OK. Come on, Paul. I'll help you clean up once the cops are done."

"Baker, anyone here who knows the guys in Five-0?" Officer Fujita asked when he brought Danny into the station, which was almost as quiet as the empty Sundog.

"Since there's no one here but me, that would be 'no,'" the desk sergeant answered. "Who's this?" he asked, regarding the battered but cooperative suspect.

"Five-0, or so he says."

"I can't help you," Baker said apologetically. "Before I deployed, there was no such thing as Five-0 and this is my first day back. It's been exceptionally busy, even for a Friday night. Everyone's out." He ticked off items on his fingers. "There was your bar brawl, a riot at a rock concert, two multi-car accidents on the highway and a man holding his wife at knife point, apparently because she burned the pot roast tonight."

"No detectives?" Danny asked. He was getting the sinking feeling he was going to have to call Steve for help with a large side order of mockery.

"See above," the sergeant answered. "Plus a big drug bust with the Feds and a stakeout that looks like it will be an all-nighter."

Danny tried one more suggestion. "Look, I am Detective Danny Williams," he said patiently. "If you could check the personnel files …"

"The computer's down."

"Again?" More than anything else, Danny's outrage convinced the two officers that he was who he said he was, so they decided to detain him without booking him.

"The techs are working on it now. That's why it's down. Maybe it won't keep going down when they're done."

"Computers, can't live with them, etc. etc. etc." Danny said.

"After two tours in Iraq, I always like to have a low tech backup, just in case," Baker said. "So I have a clipboard with important phone numbers on it." He flipped to the second page. "Including one Steve McGarrett who is the head of Five-0, according to this."

Danny closed his eyes in pain that had nothing to do with present bruises and everything to do with future wisecracks.

"Fine. Call my boss," he said in resignation. "Subject me to public humiliation and ridicule. It's been that kind of night."

"What started the fight?" Fujita asked, as Baker began to dial.

"I kissed the wrong girl," Danny answered.

"Was it worth it?" Fujita uncuffed him, put him in a holding cell and went to get a cold pack out of the first aid kit.

Danny grinned. "Yeah."

"Officer, you have a desperado for me to identify?" Steve McGarrett said breezily, as he entered the squad room. He held his open ID for Fujita to inspect.

Danny closed his eyes in a plea for strength. He lay on the bunk in the cell holding a cold pack to his bruised face. The eye in the unbruised side regarded Steve unfavorably as the Five-0 commander approached.

"What do we have here? The Jersey Devil? The Trenton Terror? The Hoboken Hobgoblin?"

"Should I wait until you've run out of New Jersey cities?" Danny asked.

"It's your heritage of violence," Steve said sadly. "The peaceful people of Honolulu have no defense against a man from the mean streets of New Jersey."

"Stop. Just stop," Danny said. "I was out tonight minding my own business and this is what I got from the playful natives."

Favoring his left arm, Danny sat up and turned his head to face his partner. Steve had been expecting a black eye, not bruises covering most of the left side of Danny's face. Steve winced in sympathy.

"You look like one of those football fans who paints half his face in the team colors, but no team has 'bruise' for a color," Steve said.

"Officer, isn't there a law against torture by bad comedy?" Danny demanded.

"I don't know, but I can check the statutes, detective," the officer offered as he got the keys to release Danny.

Danny groaned and put the cold pack back on his face. "Another comedian."

"Are you all right, partner?" Steve asked in genuine concern.

"Do I look all right?" All the outrage that Danny had restrained as a prisoner came flowing out. "I got beat up and then I got arrested for getting beat up!"

"Not arrested," the officer protested. "I didn't book you."

Steve opened his mouth.

"Don't," Danny warned.

"What happened?" Steve asked instead.

"He kissed a Hawaiian girl and a haole-hater objected," Fujita said.

"Don't you know better than to pick up strange women in bars?" Steve chided.

"It wasn't Lily's fault. Anyway, we were properly introduced."

"Really? Who by?" Steve asked curiously. He figured he knew almost everyone Danny did.

"I'll take the Fifth," Danny answered as he reclaimed his weapon from Fujita.

"It's OK, Danny. I'm a big girl. I'm not ashamed to introduce you to my friends," Kono Kalakaua said.

When Kono and Lily entered HPD headquarters, the officer saw Catherine Rollins waiting in the lobby — which meant Steve was already there, probably giving Danny a hard time.

"Damn!"

"Nice to see you again, too, Officer Kalakaua," Catherine said in amusement.

"Sorry. Lt. Catherine Rollins, this is Lily Kiliona. Catherine is my boss' … um … friend," Kono said. "Was Steve really mad?" she asked Catherine.

"A little, but he was almost as amused as he was annoyed."

"That's almost worse. I'm going to kill Puhi for this," Kono muttered, angry that her plans to cheer Danny up had wiped out like a novice surfer on the Pipeline.

"Not if my brothers get to him first," Lily answered.

Catherine tilted her head. "I'm not sure, but if I follow you, won't Danny want first shot at the guy who sucker-punched him?" The Navy lieutenant knew a lot about soothing egos in a man's world.

Kono and Lily exchanged looks.

"True," Lily accepted. "Danny gets first dibs."

"Then me," Kono insisted.

Lily held up her hands in surrender. "OK."

"I'd better get in there," Kono said. She stiffened her spine. "Wait here, Lily. Are you sure you want to file a police report?"

"I'm not afraid of the big bully," Lily answered.

"OK, I'll be right back." Kono showed her ID and entered the squad room area.

"You gave up awfully easy," Catherine commented.

"It occurred to me that we're talking about assault and battery, not murder."

"So?"

"So, after Danny and Kono arrest the SOB, he'll probably make bail. Then my brothers can beat him up."

"Very practical. So, are you Danny's 'um' friend,'" Catherine teased Lily.

She smiled weakly. "It's too soon for 'um.' We only met …" Lily checked her watch. "About five hours ago. But I liked him a lot."

She rubbed her forehead, where a bruise was developing. It hurt more than the one that was turning her right cheek purple.

"I don't suppose he'll want to 'um' when he got pounded just for kissing me," she said sadly.

"You don't need to protect me," Kono told Danny. "Here, I brought you your ID."

Danny took the badge and wallet gladly.

"Lily picked them up to keep them safe. I didn't realize she had them until we were leaving the hospital. I knew HPD would take you in if you had a gun and no ID, so we came right over."

"Hospital? Is Nan OK?" Danny asked in quick concern. "The baby…?"

"The baby's OK. The bleeding stopped on its own. The scare made Nan go into premature labor, but they gave her a shot at the hospital and the pains stopped. They're keeping her overnight, but they think she'll be OK. But that's why it took so long."

"How's Lily?"

"She's got bruises matching yours," Kono said wryly. She studied her friend's bruised face. "Aw, Danny, I'm sorry. I should have backed you up!" the rookie officer said in distress.

"Hey! Who's the senior officer, me or you? Me, right? Did you follow my instructions and get the civilians to safety? Including one who needed medical attention?"

Kono nodded.

"Then you did the right thing," Danny assured his friend. "I don't blame you for this," he said, gesturing at his bruises. "I blame that jerk who tossed me around the bar like a basketball. I wish I knew who he was, so I could explain to him, on a one-to-one basis, that haole bashing is against the law."

"You didn't do so well the last time you 'debated' with him," Steve reminded him.

"He grabbed me from behind. Why are you still here?" Danny demanded. "Don't you have a date to get back to? I don't need you to ID me now." He flashed his badge and ID at the officer who nodded and returned Danny's weapon. "And I don't need another comedy club session."

"I thought you might need a ride home," Steve said mildly.

"Thank you, but I think I'll stay and look at mug shots. See if I can ID the guy."

"Oh, I know who he is," Kono said bleakly. "So does Lily, and she's willing to swear out an assault and battery complaint."

"You know him?" Danny demanded.

"Yes." Kono took a deep breath. "His name is Puhi Kalakaua."

"Kalakaua? Is he another one of your cousins?"

"Worse. He's my brother," Kono said bitterly.

"Brother!"

"Half-brother," Kono amended. "When Puhi's mother died, my father remarried. Puhi has never forgiven him for marrying a non-Hawaiian. I'm only a half-blood to him and he really despises Chin's side of the family for their 'Kelly' blood."

"We all know Puhi," the HPD officer contributed. "He's been in trouble before for picking fights and bullying haoles, but he and his friends tend to pick on tourists who have planes to catch and they don't cause any real damage and …"

"And he's related to a bunch of cops, so he's weaseled out of any real trouble," Steve guessed.

"That's about it," the officer agreed.

"But now he's assaulted a cop in front of another cop," Kono said grimly.

"I think he's fresh out of free passes," Steve said with a feral grin.

Fujita brought Lily back to take her statement. Catherine tagged along because she hated to miss the excitement.

Lily saw her date — could you really call half a dance a date? — and ran past the officer to hug Danny, who winced at the touch.

"Danny!" Lily exclaimed in worry. With the familiarity of a much longer acquaintance, she tugged his shirt up so all could see the extensive bruising on his side.

Everyone went silent.

"Yes, yes, a full-body slam against a barroom wall will do that," Danny said impatiently, embarrassed by his status as casualty. He was supposed to be the protector, the avenger, not the victim. "They're just bruises. A lot of bruises," he admitted, "but just bruises. Let's move on to arresting the perps who busted up the Sundog."

"And you," Steve said coldly.

"And me," Lily added.

"Especially you," Danny agreed, his blue eyes just as cold as Steve's.

Kono's anger was as hot as Pele's, but she was distracted by a new voice.

"Well, in the morning, you can probably find Puhi hanging out at Jones' Body Shop," said the desk sergeant from his post near the entrance.

"Sgt. Baker! I'm glad to see you back safe and sound," Kono said in real pleasure. He was a friend of her family.

"So, you're part of this Five-0 unit?" Baker asked. "I'm sorry I missed your graduation, by the way."

"So did I, as it turned out. Yes, I'm part of Five-0." She introduced Steve and Danny. "And you know Chin Ho. That's all our team."

Baker made a mental note. "I'll remember, detective, I promise," he told Danny.

The fair-haired detective shrugged. "Hard to keep track when you're in Iraq," he said and rolled his eyes at the unintentional rhyme.

"What were you saying about Kamaka Jones?" Lily asked. "He wasn't at the Sundog."

"He's part of Puhi's Na Kahu group."

Steve raised his eyebrows. "The guardians?"

"Of the true Hawaiian culture," Fujita said ironically.

"'Jones,' doesn't sound very Hawaiian," Danny said.

"Kamaka was adopted," Lily said. "He may promote Hawaiian culture but he's no haole-hater. His dad was the sweetest man."

"Why's he hang around with a schmuck like Puhi?" Danny asked.

"Habit, I guess. We're talking about the neighborhood where Kono and I grew up, Danny. Puhi, Kamaka and I all went to high school together. And Kono and Nan and Monica were about five years behind us. We've all known each other forever," Lily said earnestly. "But I've never liked Puhi. He's always been a bully."

"I'm ready to take your statement, miss," Fujita said to Lily.

"Be right there." She gripped the front of Danny's abused jersey and pulled him to her careful of his bruises.

He bent his forehead to touch hers, bruise to matching bruise.

"It was nice meeting you," Danny said with mild mockery in his formality.

"Despite everything?" Lily asked in real concern.

"Despite everything," Danny assured her.

She smiled bright as daybreak over the Pacific. "You can call me anytime, Danny Williams. Now, don't we have a kiss to finish?"

And they did, heedless of the interested onlookers, holding it until they finally had to come up for air.

Self-composed despite her battered visage, Lily twiddled her fingers in farewell as she followed the officer to his desk.

Wiping lipstick off his mouth, a little dazed, Danny could find nothing to say but "um," and couldn't understand why that made Catherine dissolve into giggles.

The next morning, Kamaka Jones was irritably listening to Puhi Kalakaua boast — for the seventeenth time that morning! — about the haole he'd hassled the night before. The light streaming in the open garage bay door suddenly dimmed.

Three people stood there, shoulder to shoulder, like a posse sauntering down the Western street at high noon. Kamaka didn't know the tall, dark-haired haole in the middle, but he recognized the other two. In fact, he'd been waiting for one of them.

"Aloha, Kono, been expecting you," he said.

"You have?" Puhi said stupidly, gaping at his sister and his cousin and the icy-eyed man between them.

Kamaka shook his head in disgust. "You've been talking all morning about beatin' up one of Kono's friends. You didn't think the lady cop would come after you? The others figured it out. That's why they cut out."

Puhi just stared, as if he couldn't believe his free pass had run out. Kamaka shook his head. "You make me ashamed of my Hawaiian blood."

"Puhi Kalakaua, you're under arrest," Kono said, her voice dripping with frosty disgust.

"You can't!"

"This says she can," Steve answered, holding up his badge.

Puhi tensed as if he might resist arrest. Kono balanced herself on the balls of her feet. Steve and Chin just crossed their arms and looked amused while they blocked the exit.

"Give it up, Puhi," Kamaka said in exasperation. "She's been able to take you since she was nine!"

Puhi made up his mind and moved, spinning and dashing for the rear exit.

"Little cuz was right," Chin commented, unsurprised.

The Five-0 team moved in a line, but not in a hurry, to follow their suspect. Brimming with curiosity, Kamaka followed.

"He's going to get away," he suggested tentatively.

"Danny's watching the back," Steve answered.

"And he's got a score to settle from last night," Chin added.

They saw Puhi fumble the latch open on the back door.

"C'mon," Steve said, hastening his steps.

"Good idea. Your friend might need help," Kamaka said.

"I doubt it, but I want to watch," Steve said with his most wicked little grin. "I've never really seen Danny in action."

"Danny and I aren't brawlers like you two," Chin told his boss and his cousin. "We believe less is more. No wasted motion."

"I think Danny's going to make an exception in this case," Kono offered.

"But isn't the guy Puhi beat up kind of little?" Kamaka ventured.

"You may know your Hawaiian culture, but it was a wise haole who said, 'It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog,'" Steve answered.

Puhi plunged out the back door and folded to an abrupt halt. Danny's strike had elements of the classic clothesline, but Danny would have had to stand on a stepladder to clothesline Puhi at the neck. Danny's reduced version was designed to bend a suspect in half. He called it the "waistline," though sometimes — entirely by accident, of course — the blow landed nearer the groin than the waist.

With a somewhat high-pitched grunt, Puhi jackknifed into the pavement. He struck forehead first on the concrete. That was one bruise avenged, Danny thought.

Danny walked lightly around to face his opponent. A couple of ibuprophen and an hour of stretching had loosened him up for this performance. Tomorrow he expected his bruised side to be too stiff for combat, but today he could manage.

His friends and Kamaka crowded out the door into the small yard that was enclosed by gray cinderblock walls. There were some tools and a small scooter along one wall and oil drums along the back wall of the garage, otherwise the yard was empty, which suited Danny just fine.

The sliding steel gate was chained shut. Chin and Kono moved to block the smaller gate for pedestrian exit. Steve leaned against the doorjamb of the entrance into the garage. Kamaka slipped past to take a seat on an oil drum.

"Hey, Puhi!" Danny shouted in the fallen man's ear. "We were never properly introduced last night. My name is Detective Danny Williams and you're under arrest! You want to come quietly? Please say, no."

The Hawaiian shook sense back into his head. "Where'd you come from?"

"See, one difference between us — besides the whole haole thing — is that you disrespect your sister." Danny tapped his chest. "I, on the other hand, respect her. She said you'd rabbit if she came after you, so I covered the back door. I would have been deeply disappointed if you'd gone quietly with Kono. I was really looking forward to having this discussion with you. But I trusted your sister and here we all are." He gestured at the sunny sky and the interested spectators. "I know you're more used to hitting people from behind, so I'll tell you the rules here. You can surrender or you can go toe-to-toe with me or any of my friends."

The knowing smirk on Danny's face brought Puhi to his feet. He threw a punch, but there weren't two guys holding Danny this time. Danny ducked and planted a quick left-right in Puhi's ample gut.

"That was for Nan and her baby," Danny said, as he danced aside.

He dodged a backhanded blow from Puhi and responded with an open-handed slap to the face that made Puhi's cheeks jiggle like jelly.

"That was for Lily."

Puhi charged with a roar, arms extended to sweep the haole into a bear hug. Danny sidestepped and hooked his foot around the Hawaiian's ankle. As Puhi fell past, Danny gave him a nicely judged shove that sent the suspect into the wall in a full body slam. Another set of bruises avenged.

"Maybe you're right. Toe-to-toe would be a little silly," Danny conceded to his again fallen foe. "I mean, look at the size of you!"

Puhi made no move to get up. He was done.

"No wasted motions," Chin said in approval.

"It's like judo," Kono suggested.

"More like bullfighting," Steve said.

"But Danny, you didn't leave anything for me," Kono complained.

Danny scratched his head. It was her party that had been ruined. She deserved something, even if it was just a bone.

"Book him, Kono," Danno said.


End file.
